Thiqah was established in 2012 to provide smart solutions, business services CAIRO: Saudi Arabia’s business service provider Thiqah has signed a memorandum of understanding with Cairo-based e-Finance Investment Group to facilitate the company’s entry into the Egyptian market. The agreement will enable both companies to provide digital solutions, electronic payment services and integrated technological systems to Egypt and Saudi Arabia. “Our partnership with Thiqah is perfectly aligned with the group’s investment strategy, which aims to expand our activities and business operations outside Egypt, especially in markets that present attractive growth opportunities and allow us to maximize value for shareholders,” said Ibrahim Sarhan, the chairman of e-Finance Investment Group. The agreement will support Thiqah’s position in the Egyptian market and facilitate e-Finance’s expansion to international markets. Founded in 2005, e-Finance has been instrumental in building and developing Egypt’s governmental financial network. Thiqah, on the other hand, was established in 2012 to provide smart solutions and business services to the Saudi market. Noon lays off 10% of its workforce Saudi Arabia’s e-commerce giant Noon has cut 10 percent of its workforce in its Dubai office to reduce costs. The layoffs included roles in marketing and advertising as well as other departments. The company has been reducing its staff for a while. “We’ve been cutting costs and reducing staff for the past year and a half,” said Mohamed Alabbar, the founder of Noon, in a statement. Alabbar owns 50 percent of Noon, while Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund owns the rest. Nigeria’s Autochek acquires majority stake in Egypt’s Autotager Nigeria-based car financing platform Autochek has acquired a majority stake in Egypt’s used car marketplace AutoTager for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition will enable Autochek to deepen its presence in North Africa, with Egypt being the second-largest automotive market in Africa. “We are thrilled to partner with Autochek to pursue several sizable and unique opportunities in the automotive space. Autochek has deep automotive expertise and brings a proven playbook and several all-weather strategies that have been tested and validated in multiple complex high-growth markets,” said Amr Rezk, CEO and founder of AutoTager. The Nigerian firm is in nine countries across East, West and North Africa, with AutoTager being its third acquisition in less than a year. “The company’s track record of concurrently operating various business models in the automotive space is stellar and provides us with a wide menu of options and cutting-edge tools to offer AutoTager’s customers a truly unique proposition,” Rezk added. Founded in 2021, AutoTager is a venture-backed startup that aims to remove friction from buying and reselling in Egypt. UAE launches global competition for cleantech startups The UAE launched “The Make it in the Emirates” startup competition for cleantech companies to support the country’s sustainability goals. The Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology will enable 24 tech startups focusing on sustainability and decarbonization to participate in the competition ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference in Dubai. Taking place from May 31 to June 1, the competition invites transformative startups seeking to have a global impact to showcase and pitch innovations and technologies. In addition, it allows them to learn from industry experts working in the fields of sustainability, manufacturing and technology. “We are living in an age in which startups have the power to disrupt entire industries and rewrite the playbook. These startups also have promising solutions for some of the world’s most pressing issues, including climate change,” Tariq Al-Hashimi, director of the advanced technology adoption and development department in the MIAT. The competition will also allow the startups to further develop and deploy their technologies in the UAE in collaboration with various industry partners. “That is why the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology is leveraging the Make it in the Emirates Forum as a platform to provide promising tech-driven, sustainability-focused companies with a stage at one of the region’s largest and most attended industrial investment events to pitch, learn and connect,” Al-Hashimi added. The competition is one of several initiatives launched under the “Make it in the Emirates” umbrella that aims to attract investors, industrialists and innovators to the UAE to benefit from the country’s advantages. Abu Dhabi’s Ryse Energy secures $15m in a funding round Abu Dhabi-based renewable energy systems provider Ryse Energy secured $15 million in a funding round led by RWE Energy Transition Investments, the investment arm of RWE Supply & Trading GmbH. The funding will enable Ryse Energy to accelerate its international growth and diversify its business model into energy as a service. “This investment will enable us to accelerate our growth and expand our product offering while continuing to deliver innovative decentralized renewable energy systems to our customers around the world, at the same time reducing greenhouse gas emissions and client energy costs,” said Alistair Munro, CEO and founder of Ryse Energy. The company is a primary manufacturer of small wind turbine technologies and offers a range of renewable energy systems and energy storage. The company has manufacturing facilities in the UK and Spain, with sales offices in the US, Europe, the UAE and India. Ryze Energy will also utilize its funding to expand its manufacturing capacity in the UAE, US and India.